Same old story

VILLE PLATTE - If Sacred Heart can point to one factor in their 12-9 homecoming loss to West St. Mary, it has to be the numerous mistakes committed by the Trojans.
According to Trojan head coach Josh Haper, its the same old story just a different chapter.
“We did the same thing this week as we did last week against Loreauville,” stated a very disappointed Harper. “Every time we would get something going we would kill ourselves. It was either a penalty or a turnover. We just can’t keep doing that to ourselves.”
In the game, Sacred Heart had three costly turnovers and committed eight penalties for 78 yards. Each of those mistakes coming at very inopportune times for the Trojans.
Case in point. On Sacred Heart’s second possession of the game, the Trojans took over at their 28-yard line and marched 55 yards in 12 plays down to the Wolfpack 17-yard line.
On first down, Sacred Heart fumbled the ball, which was quickly recovered by West St. Mary at their 24-yard line, thus ending a very promising Trojan drive.
The Sacred Heart defense got the ball right back for Trojans when Julien Vidrine intercepted a long pass at their 30-yard line that was badly overthrown by West St. Mary’s Cameron Blake.
A block in the back penalty on Sacred Heart during the attempted run back put the Trojans at their 17-yard line.
But that did not deter Sacred Heart. The Trojans put together another long drive that ended on a 59-yard touchdown pass from Launey to JT Harper on the thirteenth play of the possession.
The extra point was true off of the foot of Alec Gotro and with 3:32 left in the half, Sacred Heart led 7-0. That scored remained until the horn sounded to end the second quarter.
Sacred Heart received the kickoff to start the third quarter and was forced to punt the ball away to West St. Mary after a three and out series. A nice 41-yard punt from Daniel Scully gave the Wolfpack the ball at their 16-yard line.
The Sacred Heart defense bowed up and pushed West St. Mary back to their 10-yard line in three plays. Facing fourth down, the Wolfpack dropped back to punt and snapped the ball over the punter’s head for a safety. So, with 8:50 to go in the third quarter, the Trojans now had a 9-0 lead.
The game see-sawed back and forth following the safety, with neither team gaining any advantage over the other.
On Sacred Heart’s third possession of the third quarter, the Wolfpack special teams came up with the play of the game.
With the Trojan’s facing fourth-and-one at their 40-yard line, Sacred Heart decided to punt the ball away. Unfortunately, the Trojans did not account for a West St. Mary player coming through the middle and Scully’s attempted kick was blocked.
A Wolfpack player picked up the ball and raced 20 yards for the touchdown to give West St. Mary their first points of the night. The two-point conversion run failed, however the Wolfpack had cut the lead to 9-6 at the 1:59 mark of the third quarter.
“That was a huge play in the game,” commented Harper. “That play really changed the complexion of the game.”
Sacred Heart went on a mini-drive on their next possession, moving the ball from thier 42-yard line down to the West St. Mary 43-yard line. But, the drive stalled, forcing the Trojans to punt again.
The Wolfpack’s next drive would ultimately become the proverbial nail in the coffin for the Trojans. West St. Mary took over at their 28-yard line after the punt and marched down to the Sacred Heart 22-yard line in 10 plays.
On third-and-13 Wolfpack quarterback Jason Pierre hit Daylon Richard on a streak route down the right sideline for a 22-yard touchdown pass.
Richard looked to be out of the end zone on the reception, but the back judge signaled that he was in bounds, giving West St. Mary the lead for the first time in the game.
The two-point run failed again, but the Wolfpack now had a 12-9 advantage over the Trojans with 5:42 left in the game.
Sacred Heart would get two more chances to get back into the lead and possibly win the game. But on the Trojan’s next possession, things went very awry, as Sacred Heart lost 27 yards in three plays including an intentional grounding penalty and a sack of Launey.
The final possession for the Trojans began at their 33-yard line with a little over two minutes left to play and looked like it might produce a game winning score. Sacred Heart went into their two-minute offense, with Launey connecting on his next six pass attempts.
But, on third-and-ten from the Wolfpack 15-yard line, a bad snap forced a loss of five yards and put the Trojans in a fourth and long situation.
Harper sent out Gotro and the field goal unit to attempt a 36-yard field goal that fell just short of its mark with 26 seconds left in the game.
From there, all West St. Mary had to do was kneel on the ball one time and the game was over.
On the night, Launey was 12-of-22 for 154 yards and one touchdown. Harper led all receivers with three catches for 73 yards and a touchdown.
With the loss, Sacred Heart drops to 4-4 on the year and 1-4 in district play. The Trojans will host Catholic of New Iberia this coming Friday night.